1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coin detecting apparatus for identifying coins.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a coin detecting apparatus is known for identifying coins, e.g., as to whether they are forged and what type they are, in accordance with captured results of the surface of the coin. In such coin detecting apparatuses, pre-processing of a pattern image conducted before identifying the coins is time-consuming because features of pressed pattern for indicating the density of the pattern image formed on the coin must be pre-processed using a complex image processing method. Therefore, in order to shorten the pre-processing time, a coin detecting apparatus has been proposed recently in which light beams having different wavelengths are reflected on a surface of a coin; and images of the surface of the coin are obtained with respect to each reflected light beam. (See, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H9-97363)
In the above coin detecting apparatus, more accurate identification is desirable. With respect to obtaining images, although finer patterns, e.g., slight patterns pressed on the coin can be obtained with high resolution, there is a problem in that the volume of data of the obtained pattern image will inevitably increase.
In addition, the increased volume of data may be more time-consuming with respect to data handling, e.g., data transmission, data-writing, and the image processing task.